Exercising device for attachment to a wheelchair



Jan. 21, 1969 J, MOORE 3,423,086

EXERCISING DEVICE FOR ATTACHMENT TO A WHEELCHAIR Filed Oct. 24, 1965 JON/E M. T. MOOEG INVENTOE United States Patent 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A leg-exercising device for attachment to a wheelchair or walker vehicle and comprising a structure having bicycle-like peddles so positionable in front of said vehicle that an occupant thereof may operate the peddles.

A device attachable to a wheelchair-like vehicle and having bicycle-like peddles operable by the occupant of the vehicle for exercising his legs.

The invention herein described pertains to an attachment for an invalids wheelchair to facilitate leg exercises, and more particularly to a device of this nature comprising a wheel resembling the front wheel of a bicycle that is so attachable to the wheelchair that its occupant may operate the pedals that rotate the aforementioned wheel when it is lifted by means of a pedestal from the surface upon which the wheel chair is resting.

One object of the invention is to provide a device of the type described that may be detachably secured to the frame of the wheelchair without making any mechanical alterations therein.

A further object is to provide a device of the type described that may conveniently be operated by the occupant of the chair.

An additional object in a device of the type described is to provide means by which the attachment may be removably secured either to a folding wheelchair or to one that is not capable of being folded.

Still another object is to provide such an exercising device with a pedestal that will support the pedalled front wheel while it is rotated.

A further object is to provide a device of the type described in which the pedestal may be rotated on the shaft of the said wheel to an inoperative position where it may be releasably held by means of a latch that is a part of the device.

Yet another object is to provide an attachment of the type described that will permit the chair to be moved by its occupant not only in a straight line but also to the right or left.

This invention possesses many other advantages and has other objects which may be made more clearly apparent from a consideration of an illustrative embodiment of the invention. For this purpose, such an embodiment is shown in the drawings accompanying and forming part of the present specification. This embodiment will now be described in detail, illustrating the general principles of the invention; but it is to be understood that this detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of the presently preferred embodiment of the invention attached to a wheelchair;

FIG. 2 is a section taken substantially on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation of the device;

FIG. 4 is a section taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 of FIG 2.

3,423,086 Patented Jan. 21, 1969 Inasmuch as most wheelchairs that are now being manufactured are of the folding or collapsible type, the exercising device herein described and illustrated in the drawings has been designed so that it may be attached to either type of wheelchair.

The exercise that is provided by the attachment is similar to that which is obtained by the rider of a bicycle or tricycle. Accordingly, the device includes a tricycle type wheel 10 that is rigidly secured to a shaft 46 which is journaled in the spaced branches or members 47 and 48 of an inverted Y-shaped structure 11. The wheel 10 may be driven by the feet of the occupant of the chair and exercise derived therefrom without the necessity of any bodily movement of the chair itself. The parallel branch members 47 and 48 depend from a yoke 49, FIG. 3, integrally attached to a shaft or stem 50, FIG. 2, that is mounted for angular movement only in a sleeve 14. This sleeve thus constrains the stem 50 from longitudinal movement.

The sleeve 14 is the fore part of a frame structure 13 which is secured at its opposite end to the under portion of the chair in a manner hereinafter to be described.

The frame structure 13, in the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, comprises a section 51 that is arched over the wheel 10 to permit the wheel to turn on the axis of the stem 50 without interference between the wheel and the said arched section. One end of section 50 is integrally secured to the sleeve 14, and its other end is rigidly attached to the foot rest 15. The foot rest is integral with a pair of spaced rods 16 and 17 that have a terminal structure whereby they may be secured to an elongated cross member 18 whose opposite ends are carried by spaced bars or tubes 23 and 24 that are components of the under portion of the chair. I

The cross member 18 is provided near opposite ends with brackets 25, FIGS. 1 and 5, that depend from the under side of the cross member. Each of the brackets 25 comprises a heavy snap ring 26 whose ends are turned outward. These sna-p rings snap over the side bars or tubes 23 and 24. As shown in FIG. 1, the rod 18 abuts against the downwardly extending portion of the frame member 28, which thus prevents the rod 18 from moving toward the front of the chair.

As will be observed in FIG. 4, the rod 17 is curved back on itself at an angle of substantially degrees. The rod 16 is shaped in like manner. The elongated member 18, which of course may be tubular, nests within the loops provided by the curved ends of rods 16 and 17. The pressure of the feet of the occupant of the chair against the pedals 52 and 53 urge the rods 16 and 17 forward, thus preventing the frame from moving toward the rear, and any forward movement is prevented by the cross member 18, which as previously mentioned, is constrained against movement toward the pedals by the downwardly extending portions of the frame member 28 and 28. Side movement of the bars 16 and 17 along the cross member 18 is prevented by the adjustable collars 19 and 20 that are held in adjusted position by means of the set screws 21 and 22.

It will of course be understood that the folding foot rests 43 and 44 that are normally provided on a folding wheelchair, will be turned to a vertical position as shown in FIG. 1 in order to be out of the way of the wheel 10 and of the frame 13 before the frame is attached to the under portion of the chair.

When the chair is being used in a stationary position as an exercising device, the wheel 10 must of course be out of contact with the surface upon which the wheelchair is resting. To support the wheel in such a position, a pedestal 33 is provided which has two spaced side structures 35 and 36 that are rotatably mounted on the shaft 46 to which the wheel is itself secured. When the base 34 of the pedestal 33 is resting on the floor or other surface that may be supporting the wheelchair itself, the occupant of the chair may drive the wheel 10 by means of the pedals 52 and 53 that are suitably mounted for rotation on the free ends of bars 54 and 55 respectively. These pedals are each rotatably carried upon a spindle. The spindle 57 which carries the pedal 53 is itself rigidly secured at a right angle to the rod 54, and the spindle 58 is similarly secured to the rod 55. It will be clear to those skilled in mechanics that the wheels may actually be operated by means of the spindles 57 and 58 without the pedals themselves, the spindles in such an arrangement acting as bell crank levers.

Wheel chairs conventionally are provided with a pair of large casters each positioned in front of one of the large side wheels of the chair. One such caster 30 is shown in FIG. l carried by a yoke 31 whose stem is rotatably mounted in a conventional manner in the lower end of the vertical rod or tube 29 which is a part of the frame of the chair itself. The opposite caster is of course similarly mounted in a companion vertical member on the opposite side of the chair.

When the front wheel is supported on the pedestal 33, the casters 30 will be out of contact with the surface upon which the large supporting wheels of the chair are resting.

When the exercising device is not attached to the wheelchair, the front portion of the chair rests upon the casters; but if the chair is to be propelled by means of the front wheel 10, the said front wheel must of course be in contact with the surface upon which the large conventional rear wheels 59 are resting, and the casters then must be free from engagement with the surface that is supporting the said rear wheels. The lower edge of the casters 30 are consequently above the plane on which the wheels 59 and 10 rest when the wheel 10 is not elevated by the pedestal 33. In order to permit the Wheel 10 thus to engage the ground or surface that supports the chair, the pedestal may be rotated around the shaft 46 to an inoperative position in which it is latched by means of the bracket 37, FIG. 3. As shown in this figure, the bracket 37, is secured to the sleeve 14. This bracket has a sloping inner side surface 38 so that when the pedestal is rotated upward, the side bar 35 of the pedestal will cam the sloping inner surface 38 of the bracket 37 out of the way so that the hooked end of the bracket will snap beneath the rod 35 and thus latch the pedestal in an inoperative position.

Handle bars 39 are rigidly mounted within the sleeve 45, which is integrally secured to the upper end of member 42 that is an extension of the stem 50. Conventional hand grips 40 and 41 are provided on the ends of the handle bars.

Various modifications may of course be made in the presently preferred embodiment hereinbefore explained,

and the configuration and arrangement of the various elements and frames may be changed and some of them transposed or replaced by other components performing the same functions or the same functions plus additional functionsall without departing from the broad spirit of the invention as succinctly set forth in the appended claims.

The inventor claims:

1. In an exercising device for attachment to an invalids wheelchair: an inverted Y-shaped structure comprising a pair of parallel members depending from an integral stern; a shaft joumaled for rotation in said members near their free ends and extending laterally from each of them; a wheel rigidly mounted on said shaft between said members; a pair of bars each attached at one end thereof to a different end of said shaft and extending at right angles therefrom in respectively opposite directions; a pair of crank elements each extending laterally from the otherwise unattached end of a different one of said bars for applying a turning moment to said shaft and wheel; a frame structure comprising (a) a sleeve for rotatably journaling said stern and limiting its longitudinal movement, and (b) means remote from said sleeve for removably securing the frame structure to an under portion of said chair; and a pedestal having a base with spaced uprights for rotatably supporting said shaft at such distance from said base that the wheel will clear the base, said pedestal movable angularly about said shaft to an inoperative position that will permit the wheel to rest on the surface upon which the pedestal rests when it is supporting said wheel.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which said frame carries a latch in the general vicinity of said sleeve for releasably retaining the pedestal in said inoperative position.

3. The combination of claim 1 in which the means for removably securing the frame structure to an under portion of the chair comprises (1) an elongated cross member having a pair of fastening devices near opposite ends thereof to fasten said member to side elements of said under portion and (2) a pair of spaced rods having a terminal structure whereby they may be secured to said cross member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 330,430 11/1885 Seiler 272-73 1,471,749 10/1923 Monroe 27257 2,649,309 8/ 1953 Deissner.

2,7l8,396 9/1955 Lateau 272-57 2,735,422 2/1956 Jones 27258 ANTON D. OECHSLE, Prima/y Examiner.

R. W. DIAZ, JR., Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 280289 

